Character Design
Nova: Character Design for Adrift (2020)
Nova was the character I was responsible for designing for the student-led short film, Adrift, which was developed and produced from 2018 to 2020. I focused on creating an androgynous design for her, with my main goal to creative a character that contrasted but still elevated the design of the protagonist, Luno.
Playing around with floating pieces as well as a warm color scheme and star motif led to the playful yet confident design of the star force cadet, Nova. Working with the director, I developed many passes of her outfit and color scheme until we struck the proper balance between serious and hopeful.
The final renders for Nova in 3D were made possible by the amazing modeling work by Paulina Treviño and surfacing/ by Nick Garces. Their portfolios are linked below.
Character Explorations for Night Shift (2020)
Above are some initial character explorations for the student-led short, Night Shift (2020). I explored the shape language of the main character, Hana, as well as her celestial parents’ designs - Sun Dad and Moon Mom.
Drawing inspiration from my own family, specifically my younger sister in regards to Hana, I created these doodles to explore different features and faces for the main characters as I riffed off of the preliminary pitch designs. These were limited sketches created in the very early development for the short, before even the script was established.
Though character design was carried by Nicole Solis (portfolio linked below) throughout the rest of the short’s development, I am happy to say some of the elements of Hana’s design - her star clip and rooster stuffed animal - made it to the final short.
Dragons? In MY Dungeon?
Inspired by many a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, the designs above were created as various commissions and personal projects to bring a variety of characters to life in a variety of settings. Be it sci-fi warriors in a space-set campaign or changelings in the the fantasy lands of the fae, I try to integrate both the vision of the character’s creator as well as my own personal touch into each character design.
The images below are less traditional character design sheets, featuring fully rendered illustrations for the most part, in addition to a few turnarounds and sketchy explorations of characters and their various outfits. Some are monstrous creatures, some are the heroes of the story, others are silly character explorations for the fun of it. The majority are created in close communication with the person playing the character in a TTRPG, editing and adjusting along the way to create a final work both of us are happy with.
I use a mix of Photoshop and Paint Tool Sai (Version 2) to create these illustrations. All of these images stand on their own and are not backed in any official capacity by a studio or film project.